PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Talkin’ Jake from Jomboy Media stops by to explain why he betrayed the Arizona Diamondbacks

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

We play for rings in the desert with Talkin’ Jake Storiale from Jomboy Media, discussing why he has betrayed the Arizona Diamondbacks with his preseason prediction. We are also discussing World Baseball Classic, updates on D-backs spring training standouts, and Eduardo Escobar still being afraid of cats.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Our next PHNX Tee Party at Dobson Ranch is LIVE! Join us on Friday, March 24th for a night of golf, food, drinks, contests, prizes, and more. Come hang with the PHNX crew, fellow Suns’ fans and Diehards as we watch KD, Booker, and the Suns battle in the final stretch of the season as they take on De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and the Sacramento Kings.Checkout the PHNX Tee Party at Dobson Ranch Eventbrite to reserve your spot today. And Diehards, check Discord for your exclusive discount link!Circle K: Text code “PHNX” to 31310 to win a $500 gas card! Limit one entry per person—limit of one entry per phone number. The offer is valid for Arizona residents only. Must be able to verify the place of residence. This contest is administered at the discretion of the Grand Canyon Division of Circle K Stores. Circle K Store Inc. is a part of Alimentation Couche-Tard. You must be 18 years of age or older to win. For questions about this contest or our stores, text ”CARE” to 31310.Rotowire: Get your free trial and unlock all the best fantasy sports news and analysis at https://rotowire.com/phnxOGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Drink, eat, find, and experience Four Peaks at https://www.fourpeaks.com/.  Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNXSPORTS_15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save big on the best furniture in the Valley when you head to https://morfurniture.com!Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS INSTANTLY! Gambling Problem? Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (CO/IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/OH/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MD/MI /NJ/ NY/OH/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. VOID IN ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in to another edition of T HMX VEVX podcast right here on T HNX. My name is Derek Matia, occasionally known as Talking Derek. This guy's talking Jesse. Oh my gosh, I was going to, I was literally going to make that joke. You were going to introduce me as the vice mayor, also known as Thunderstake, and I was going to be like, no, Derek. I go by talking Jesse today. Yeah, too bad. And then you just ruined it.

Well, you ruined it. You ruined it. You ruined it before I ruined it. And I got to it before you could. But we are very excited, of course, to be joined today by talking Jake from John Boy Media. This show, of course, is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sportsbook app. We hope you're all having a wonderful afternoon.

We were very excited. We just got done talking to Jake, talking, talking to Jake. Talking to Jake. Talking to talking Jake. But of course, we know what he said about the Arizona Diamondbacks and his win prediction for the year. and we know that much like many of you, we were not happy with him.

Yeah, we came, we came right for him. We came right for him. We made him give us an answer. Yeah, absolutely. So without any further ado, here's our conversation with our friend talking Jake. Starting off, congrats on getting married.

Congrats to you and the misses. Awesome. I'm so, so happy for you. How is it feel? It's good, man. I mean, my joke,

which I look back in hindsight and it's, I don't know, some not bad guy stuff, because it's my next. wife but I used always say we're Northeast married like we've been living together and we've been living together and we've had a dog for six years okay yeah that's absolutely married that the marriage was symbolic of our love which is very beautiful but you know we we came back home same apartment we've been living together yeah you know he still doesn't understand why there's a pile of clothes

next to my my spot in the bed and I don't either but yeah it just happens yeah I'm sorry babe I love you But no, man, I'm stoked. She's the best. And, you know, one last thing. Ready for baseball. Yeah, right. All that taking care of during the off season, which I approve of that move as well, doing it during the off season.

But we really just got you here today to challenge you guys in Blitzball. That's all we really want to. Let's go. That's all we wanted to go. Hey, man, if you guys are out here, let us know. The warehouse is open. And we're starting to, me and Jimmy had a realization the other day, you know, 33 and 34.

that our Blitzball timeline's not looking great. We got to get some more wins in while we can. So we're open to it. Well, between that one-inning roulette floor ball and everything else you guys do in the warehouse games, you guys at John Boy Media have been broadcasting more sporting events than ESPN, it feels like. So, I mean, I guess the next logical step, Jesse? Yeah, yeah, we're curious. Are you guys planning to step in for Diamond Sports Group and their whole situation?

We're wondering if John Boy Media might be the next big thing, you know, stepping in as a regional sports network, Jake, maybe. Without my lawyers here, here's what I can say. No. No. Damn it. We do enough in that warehouse, man. My hips are hurting. I'm good.

Yeah. Yeah. I know we played a broomball on ice and I fell several times and it was enough for me to realize. I'm not a broomball player for sure, but you guys do keep it fun over there. And we thank you for that. We have a fun time watching you guys. But we also got you here to grill you a bit. This question is the reason that you're here.

This is why you're here. We feel a bit betrayed, to be honest. Now we're talking. Yeah. You took the under on 74 and a half wins for an up-and-coming Diamondbacks team that won 74 games last year. Explain yourself. Explain. So, we're going to win 73 on the nose and that's fine. Oh, no. Because here's the deal. Young players go through stuff in Major League Baseball. Literally every young player through the history of time has something. Mike Trout's first year is a call-up.

Not good. Aaron Judge's first year is a call-up. Not good. Now, I know we have guys with some experience. And man, I keep forgetting about guys, whether it's, like a Dre Jameson or, I mean, fought or whoever it is, dude. Like, it's very impressive the farm system that the snakes have built up. And the bigger problem is the big bad

wolves in our neighborhood that we're going to let fizzle out over the next year and a half or so. And that's when we take over. But, I mean, the Dodgers, the Dodgers stumble into 100 games. I mean, it seems like they won a buck 11 last year.

That doesn't just happen. The Padre I mean, Seidler is, we started joking on talking baseball that there's like a 1% chance. This ends as like a bad documentary, like all the money's fake or something. What they're doing in San Diego is crazy. And even the Giants, like they have a little bit of Giants voodoo that, you know, I think they're going to be better than 81 wins. So it's less of a shot at the snakes who I think the deadline rolls around and we've got young guys balling and figuring it out. for some of them and you trade away a couple, maybe the veterans in the bullpen,

maybe Gurriel has a nice little pit stop in Arizona, that if the under hits, and that's why I was so excited when you said, how excited you guys are for this baseball season, because it really is, man. You go around the diamond and there are young guys with potential and even there's a layer to it with another set of prospects that is really deeper.

We just did all the baseball teams and all 30 organizations and, you know, top prospects and who's on the team. And the Diamondbacks, young talent that's about ready to go, there's not a lot of teams that compete with them. Yeah. Jake, you got Dodgers or Padres winning the NLS? I'm Dodgers. They won 111 last year.

All they do is win in the regular season. And I think the Padres, I think it's a little Philly, Philly West. Like, let's just get in the dance and we're going to do our thing because their top end talent is so good that I think there's going to be a point in this season where it's like, oh, the Dodgers are on pace to win 107. We don't really care. Like, let's be healthy and going to the playoffs with our good guys that. And the Dodgers, there's something up there, man. Like, you know, they're letting superstars now walk away. Yeah.

And I don't, last year, they won 111 after letting Scher's, go. Turner goes this year. I don't know. I think they love their young prospects and people don't talk about them enough. Vargas, Stone. There's another pitcher there that, you know, just their track record, a couple of those guys are probably going to be really good. So I'll go Dodgers regular season, but I still like the Padres postseason wise, man. They're built for it. They really are. They really are. And now you talked a bit about the young addition, some of the things the Diamondbacks have done, the young players. But what were your thoughts on the Dalton Varsho trade with the Blue Jays bringing in Gabriel Moreno and Lordus Curiel? Did you, did you like that trade for the Diamondbacks?

So I liked it for the snakes. I really do. I think Varsho, I mean, he's a short king like myself. I think he's listed 5-10 and that's one of the biggest lies in baseball. It absolutely is. It absolutely is. I'm, you know, at this point in my life, I'm five- wearing shoes and Varsho wasn't too far off. So all that being said, I love him and he broke breaks out last year. I'm interested to see this year for him in the ALE East, right? He's going to be playing only outfield. They're taking away his catching duties, which that should be good for him.

But also adjusting to a new division is tough. And I say this with all the love to Darden Varshow. I think he had like a 109 OPS plus last year, something like that, which is a nice season, right? but also it felt like that was the Blue Jays like, bang, we're getting a lefty for the middle of our lineup. And if Dalton takes a step up, you know, that's going to be perfect and a beautiful fit for them. If he has some learning curves to a different division, which a lot of players do,

I don't know if he's the perfect piece they were looking for. I think he was the piece available they were looking for. Well, meanwhile, you get a guy in Moreno, never mind Gurriel, who, by the way, he's got some hitting seasons of his, own that could be on like lordis gareil junior could have a better hitting caesar than dalton varshow and that that's not shots fired to anyone that's just how baseball works it's definitely a possibility for sure that the fact is they could flip him at the deadline and then you have whatever moreno turns into i i really like to value wise uh for the snakes jake uh i'm

sure you guys have probably already talked about the corbin carroll extension on on your show obviously really, really big news for us here in Arizona. Eight years, $111 million for a guy who's played 32 big league games and has 115 big league played appearances. I know everyone in Arizona, though, is stoked and certainly thinks that Corbyn Carroll is as deserving of that as anyone who's played in as few games as he has. I mean, you sure has shown quite a bit in that short time. What were your thoughts on that extension?

You love, from a fan perspective, you love that a team's willing to do that. Like that's the first, zoom out, zoom in. Like the fact that the dimebacks as an organization are willing to give any player that kind of money is a great thing. And like we're talking about with this young core, that's good news going forward, especially with what the Padres are doing and what the Mets are doing. And like, I think we're about to see a next generation of baseball that if you want to compete, you can't just do a full sell rebuild and not add anything to it. I think if you want to play with the big boys, you're going to have to spend in some places. So locking up Corbyn Carroll, who has a chance to be special, special. I mean, you love that.

You know, go buy a jersey. Go buy a ticket to the game, right? The baseball side of it, I think if you're being honest. as you like the way you teed it up you'd love to see a little more of them you know it it was fun as all hell man I mean even the clips of him running the bases are highlights yeah so the fact that you know you have him locked up like I said I'm 33 and the body's body started going about two years ago you're going to have his best athleticism years where let's see where the hitting lands which has a chance to be very special but you know you're going to have his speed

years which if he gets on base at all he's a problem he's going to be able to track down balls and guess what in those at-bats he did get he was really good so yeah and he's a he's a super product so i love it for them and hey if even if he if he stays on an okay trajectory it's good value if he goes on a nut job good trajectory it's amazing value and that's how you end up being able to form something like the Braves have going, which is their version of a dynasty. So, you know, with anything, there's risk, right? Like, you know, injuries, whatever it may be. But I think if you're going to risk it, you risk it for a dude that looks like that on a baseball field. I couldn't agree more. And honestly, it's, you're absolutely right about locking these guys in. You know, the one thing about it for the

Diamondbacks is we've seen those guys come and go. We even saw the general manager. Mike Hazen talked the other day about how, you know, he's learned from his mistakes where he should have gone right instead of going left. And he obviously one of those guys was Paul Goldschmidt and the, you know, losing him. And his production was a big impact. But he kind of described also the impact on the, on the locker room and the clubhouse itself of losing a guy like that. And then he also talked about the adverse effect of signing a guy like Corby and Carol like this and the positivity that kind of resonates through the clubhouse a bit after something like this happens that, you know, there's a lot of young guys in there.

And when they see the Diamondbacks taking care of Corbyn Carroll, it feels like if they perform well that that's a very strong possibility for them as well. Right. And that's, we joked, we talked about, we did the Braves team profile and projection today. And we were joking, you know, their basically only decision they have to make is that shortstop where, by the way,

they had a 22-year-old kid who had around an 800 OPS and play some shortstop in Von Grisham, that we were laughing that, hey, if he goes out and he has a good first two months, he's going to be looking at the front office like, hey, I'm ready. Like, let's talk. Let's do this. And like you're saying, that's got to be a pretty cool feeling for a young ball player where let's look at the other side.

I mean, there's guys in Tampa, Tyler Glassnow. He does Rose rotation with Chris Rose. And he basically openly said, he's like, yeah, you know, I know I've got limited time here. Like if I do me, I'm not going to get the five-year, you know, 175 million contract. Like, they just don't do that. So that's weird, man, when you're a young ball player and this is all you know. So to know that's out there, I do think that's important, especially with the young core we just talked about. And knowing if you're Alec Thomas, if you're whoever, if you do it the right way, you know, this could be home.

And stuff like this does matter to athletes. Like, Phoenix, that's pretty cool up and coming city, man. Like, you know, you can do it right there being a star athlete. So that matters. Unfortunately for the debacks, I don't know if Zach Gallen is necessarily next in line as far as an extension is concerned. His agent, of course, is one Scott Boris, and we all know how that tends to go when it's all said and done.

But Jake, I'm curious, Zach Allen last year, fifth and Cy Young voting. he had the 44 and a third inning scoreless streak. Pretty incredible stuff down the stretch. He told us at the beginning of the offseason that the baseball writers association of America folks who did not have him on their ballot, which there were, I believe, 10 of those people. He told us he has a list of those people.

He knows who those people are. But Jake, I'm curious, where is Zach Allen for you in terms of starting pitcher ranks? Is he a true ace? Is he up there with the DeGrom, the Verlanders, the Scherzers, those guys, or is he still kind of getting there? And based on what Jesse just told you, keep that in mind that he holds judges. Yeah, he might be on the list, depending on your answer.

Here's what I'll say. I think this year he can bona fide case close. It's done. Like, I am a one. Like, throw me out there for that big game. I think he probably already can do that. He had the what, the one kind of hiccup season, if you call it that. He's a stud.

He's an absolute stud. With pitchers, it's the lamest comparison, but it's how my simple brain works. They're ice cream flavors, man. There's so many good pitchers around baseball. It's just whatever you like at this point. Like I did, you know, I do Wake and Jake a Twice a Week sports show, and I did best young pitchers in baseball because I, I thought it was interesting that there's a lot of guys that are age 27.

Alcantara is 27. Zach Gallen is 27. There's kind of this batch of Jack Flair. Like the last group of young pitchers kind of grew up. And I want to see who was next. And man, there's a lot of dudes. Zach Gallen, he's one of them. So he's elite.

I do think him not pitching in games that have mattered. down the stretch, people are going to hold that against them. I mean, how do you, how do you, how do you pick between a Logan Webb and a Zach Gallen? Um, you know, I think a lot of D-back fans would come to the table and say, you know, Zach Gallant, he's my guy. Like I watch him who's nasty. Guess what Giants fans are going to say. Right, right, right. And Logan Webb, he's, he's done it on some big stages too and back to back years. So, hey, Gallons of stud, like you said, you know, maybe he puts me with the names. I don't think he has to. Yeah, I mean, he is on, he is on a path.

Like you mentioned, Scott Boris and everything he does on a baseball field. Yeah, his next contract will confirm that he's an ace. How about that? Yeah. And he also has the developers from MLB, the show, 2023 on his list as well. But we do have Merrill Kelly going tonight for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic. What are your thoughts on the World Baseball Classic and how fun this, This year tournament has been with all of these big superstars participating in it.

So I've been enjoying it. I'll be honest. We did a, we had a big, we filmed Blitzball Battle three last week. And we had a lot of people in town for that. So we were doing that. Some of the World Baseball Classic Games in the background. And then we usually catch the night games. I was getting to watch Team Australia with Peter Moyland, which was awesome because he coached half the guys.

literally like six weeks ago. He coached the Melbourne Aces, which half the guys were on that team over the winter. So he was like, when Romo first came out and he was calling plays, and everyone was like, how does Tony Romo know the plays? It was kind of like that. Like he predicted a pickoff. He predicted a double play. It was just that was a wild experience for me.

The USA games, I will play the old card a little bit. I got excited for the first game. East Coast time, it was 10 p.m. on Sunday. That's a sacred time for a lot of people. I'll be honest. I watched the first inning, and I was like, ah, they might figure it out. They didn't. I'm never going to freaking out. And then right now, they got the DR Puerto Rico, which I think that's about to take the tournament to the next level. Yes. Yeah. I'm excited to get there because it's also with the World Baseball Classic. Everyone has the little stuff they like. Like there was a guy from the Czech Republic that struck out Otani like that hits a chord for some people for me the kid from Nicaragua that's just out Lachado Soto endeavors and then he got signed like yeah that's unreal man that's like that guy's life and now he's now he's a part of the Tigers org so that's the stuff that gets it for me that now I feel like we're checking that box

of the tournament yeah and now we're going now we're going to the real stuff right like now it's hey whoever's coming over to these final games like you want to win um and i i'm excited for that because up until this point like when when the u.s lost the first game and everyone was freaking out i was kind of like i get it everyone can finish three and one and the run differential is not good but we're also playing baseball people like i bet that's not how it plays out yeah next day next day it was gone so um i'm excited to watch uh pr d r tonight and then uh i think the rest of the the rest of the way are going to be pretty electric. There's like three plots for great movies already in this tournament.

It feels like right between the Czech Republic, the pitcher from Nicaragua, like all sorts of great stuff. But we did want to get your thoughts on the best and worst world baseball classic uniforms. I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but we had some thoughts on Great Britain's uniform, obviously. So, you know, you guys are in the T-shirt game. We do some T-shirts over here as well. You guys got some good stuff. And it's been a joke for a while that, like, fonts and design, my brain just doesn't see it. Like, sometimes our graphic designer will send me six logos that are slightly different.

I'll say, which one do you like? And I'm like, no, like, there's all people. Six of the same thing. What is it? What are you doing? When I saw the Great Britain jersey, I could not be more disappointed. The fact that I can see it, and it got to that point that it's on the field, like, that's unbelievable. That's like a first draft, you know?

It's not even. It's like that's going into Instagram stories and like making a jersey. And like, you know, so that was unreal to me. I did it's always biased in sports that somehow that baby blue looks good that Mexico busted out the baby blue and that was like oh yeah I didn't I don't know that you know the color on the flag rules there but either way that's a sick jersey yeah they also I think those are they had some warmups that were incredible to the T Mexico like matching warm ups and stuff yeah it was just fire fire fire attire all around we saw your picture by the way with the with the the base what was it a big league shoe outfit today. So loving that, loving the big league two stuff for sure. Last last thing for me, Jake, you talked about before how some of these games are kind of escalating and, you know, as you move into the quarterfinals and so on, things are just going to get more and more exciting. What do you think is the ceiling for the world baseball classic as far as like how big of a spectacle

can this be around the world? I mean, I don't know about like World Cup status. Like that might be a little out there. The timing of it is really weird happening right now during spring training and a lot of pitchers in particular don't really want to participate for good reasons. But where do you see this going? Like could Major League Baseball really turn this into something that is somewhat like the World Cup someday? I think it's gotten to a good place. I think it's cool that we're playing games all over the world. We got a lot of stars in there. Like, I'll be honest, you know, there is a, you know, half of my fandom does go to the Yankees, that like Aaron judge after breaking the home run record, because all of these international tournaments outside of the World Cup that's

been doing it for a while, the copy and paste is the dream team from the USA. Like when that team went over to Europe, like now look at how many European basketball players are coming over. I mean, it's unreal. When you look at some of the best players in the NBA, the fact we got there, if you told people that in 92, they would have laughed at you, right? Like, if you described Janice or Yokic, like in 92, people would have been like, no, that doesn't even exist. So that's where I'm excited in some of these countries that aren't playing a lot of baseball. Like, you know,

guess what? In 20 years, I bet there's a Great Britain ball player and a Czech ball player. And that part of it's really cool. And I wish that all the stars could do it. And I think the only way it would get there is if they did it in the middle of the season because that's where soccer thrives. All these guys are conditioned and, you know, look at Team USA staff right now, you know, no shots fired at our guy, Merrill. But, you know, I think if we did a video game fantasy draft of the United States pitchers, you know, he might have been a sub, he might have been a sub in for a Cole or a Rodon or whoever it may be. So I think, I think for for what the current sandbox we're playing in that it's going to be before the season every four years,

I think it's in a great place. If we really wanted to go to a next level, you would open up a chunk of the regular season, and I just don't see the powers vested in us doing that, which is fine. And hey, I mean, who's regular season? I'm basing it off of MLB's regular season. Should we be basing that off of one of the Japanese leagues or something like that? I don't know. So that's where it gets a little convoluted.

but I think it's in a really good place. There is a next level. I don't think it'll get there, and that's okay. But I'd be open to it if we could really talk about it. Yeah, I love that idea. And I think that's something that we heard, Max Scherzer say maybe like an All-Star break or something like that. But, hey, man, we appreciate you so much for coming on.

We thank you. We're still not okay with the under. The under prediction, but we still love you. Yeah. How about this? I hope I'm wrong. I hope the boys ball out. I'll eat it.

Hey, I thought the Orioles last year were going to struggle to get to 60 and they won 80 something. So you know what, man? That's the beauty of the sport, right? It really is. If gallon and the rest of that rotation goes and some of the guys, I don't know. Why not? Yeah. And, you know, I will say this because I've now cooked the books with my,

somewhat snakes fandom. Okay. When the ratings came out, the dimebacks were at 19 or 20, and the Red Sox were behind them. And everyone was pissed at me. And I was like, oh, man. And then when the comments came out, there was a lot of people who weren't dimebacks fans, just baseball fans, that they crunched the numbers on all that young talent. And they were like, I kind of, this could be a sneaky team.

So I think that's a credit to what's going on. And I got to check out my schedule, but I think I might be able to make it out to a game in August this year. I think it's a, I think they play the Padres one weekend. So if I, if I do that, I got to link up with you guys. You absolutely do. We'll get you in here. And hopefully, I'm, you know, I'm pretty friendly with them. If I could work in a first pitch or maybe a last pitch or something, I'm not going down with that.

Hey, we're looking for a closer still. You know that. So, I mean, let's just put it out there. You've seen the blitzball, man. You've seen the Blitzball. I can trick them. I love it. I love it.

Well, thank you for coming on, man. We appreciate your time. Thanks, Jake. Thank you, guys. Jake is the absolute best. Big shout out to Jake for joining us. Do you forgive? Do you forgive Jake for taking the under?

I'm very... 73 wins. I'm very excited he was here today, but I do not forgive him. No, no, no. Because here's what I'm going to say to counter Jake's 73 wins is that we play the division that he's talked about less. in any case, I feel like we would win more wins in more games in 20, 23, not to mention the fact that we all know what was the terrible dumpster fire that was the bullpen for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2022. I don't believe they're going to lose as many games as they did last year.

And to be honest, we have some very early spring training numbers that might excite you and back that up just a little bit. But first, we're all about getting excited over spring training. We, yeah, like I'm reactionary. Now I'm getting this guy on board with it. But of course, there's no need to react. You know what you need. You need gas. You need coffee.

You need to go to Circle K. Check out your local Circle K for the best of all of those things. Fill up and get yourself filled up over at Circle K. We've already talked about our favorite road trip snacks and everything like that. But of course, you guys need to tell us what your favorite road trip snacks are. So drop them in the comments. We always appreciate that. And make sure to stop by Circle K.

We're also very excited to partner with our friends at Circle K. To kick things off, we've teamed up for an amazing giveaway opportunity. Text PHNX to 313310 for an opportunity to win a $500 gas card. See show notes for details. Jesse needs that very much because he is going to go out on the road. They've told us both that we can't enter, but we're going to anyway. And we're going to send Jesse to L.A. and San Diego. Hey, I mean, I think somebody, like, whoever wins that $500 gas card, like, you could go to the opening series against the Dodgers, right?

You could drive out there. You could go to the series against the Padres. Yep. It's right after it. Then come on home. And you'd still have some money left over, I think, on that gas card. Especially if you got a good, good efficient vehicle. I bought a new car.

So I'm very excited about that. I actually. You almost bought a new car. I'm close. I'm very close. This process is awful. I didn't see it in the parking garage. So no, you did not buy a car.

When I do buy the car, I'm going to celebrate with beers. I'm going to make Jesse drink one with me. And it's going to be Fort Peaks Brewing Company beers. Of course, you can get those. It's Circle K, and you can get them obviously wherever you get your beers. Make sure to check out their wide variety of beers that they have. They're all delicious and they have a beer that suits your needs. I guarantee it.

They also have spring training tours throughout the month of March. You can go check out their 8th Street Pub and take a tour. Here's some ghost stories. Find out how they make that wonderful beer. You can also check out their event calendar at 4Peaks.com slash events for all your beer week entertainment. And you already know, of course, the best place to spend St. Patty's Day is 4Peaks 8th Street Pub, of course. I'm supposed to call all of my office friends degenerates, and they love when I do that,

so I'm not going to do that. I'm going to say they're all wholesome, kind individuals that are all upstanding gentlemen, but we know that's not true. Hang out with these groups of lunatics and enjoy a damn good time. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly. And last, of course,

we want to give a shout out to our friends from Roto Wire. Of course, Roto Wire is the best place to get all of your fantasy baseball season information. I want to do those drafts. Yeah, on the mock drafts. Yeah. Only got a couple weeks left. Not just the mock draft.

Like you want to do the real draft. You're pretty pretty soon. I try to hold those out as close to the end of the season or spring training as possible. As close to the end of the season. Yeah. Sorry the season. You get what I'm saying. I have done a few drafts like a few days into the season.

And it's weird because at least in the leagues that I've done, you like already accumulate stats for a few days and you feel like you had no. Yeah. Because like it still plays like the first full week of fantasy baseball. So yeah, it's a little. It's a little weird when you draft a team and then suddenly you already have like, you're already, you know, getting completely trounced by your opponent from day one. It's also, it's also weird to go in without any information like I do.

I am not very good at fantasy baseball. I will say that. So Roto Wire has my back. And it's the only way that I can compete with guys like Jesse over here. He makes his own spreadsheets. I don't know if you know that about him, but he makes his own spreadsheets. And it's scary and I do not want to play him in any fantasy sport. But for a limited time, Roto Wire has our back.

Like I said, they're offering a. free two-day trial to our listeners. Just go to rotawire.com slash PHNX to register. No commitments. Again, they are so confident that you'll like their product that they are not even requiring a credit card down up front. Take a peek behind the paywall. And when the trial is done, you can decide if a rotowire package is right for you.

So make sure to check them out at rotowire.com. Jesse, we've seen some debacks players play pretty damn well this spring. And it's, of course, a small sample size. We'll preface it by saying that. Again, I'm the reactionary one. This guy is the calm level-headed one that tries to take into account. It's a small sample size. And it's also spring training.

It's also spring training. See? See? Well, actually, Jesse is here. But Jesse, do you want to give us an update on some of the Diamondbacks top performers? Specifically, I want to hear about some bullpen guys. Oh, some bullpen guys. Yeah.

Well, we can start with the offensive guys. Because I know, like, Kyle Lewis has been just kind of knocking the cover off the ball. Yeah. Kyle Lewis has been really, really impressive. The debacks kind of slow played him a little bit to start spring training. He was still not feeling quite 100%. I don't think there were any, there wasn't like an exact injury or anything that he was working through. It seemed like they were just kind of slow playing him.

Obviously, he's been through a lot from an injury standpoint over the last few years, just making sure that everything's ready to go. But man, he has looked ready to go so far. Six for 14 offensively. It's not that many of bats. He has a nice 929 slugging percentage. in those 14 at that's not too bad runs that was a pretty yeah oh it was a I think it was reviewed and they couldn't decide if it was a double or a home run but it came back as a home run and

yeah like man he's just been having a really nice showing so far in spring two homers six rbi and a double so far so Kyle Lewis has has really made things interesting for the debacks because the other guy that kind of really stands out to me is Pavin smith which is not does not make it any any easier for them, right? Because I imagine that those two guys are kind of playing for a similar role on this team, right? I think they are. I don't think the Diamondbacks can have both Kyle Lewis and Pavin Smith on their opening day roster. It just doesn't, it doesn't work. You have to leave space for a backup shortstop, which we think is going to be Geraldo Pardomo. And if you do that, you can't have both Kyle Lewis and Paveon Smith unless someone else gets hurt. There's just not room on the position player side for that. Well, and you also have the fact that even though Kyle Smith is doing better offensively, Payvin Smith. Kyle, Kyle Smith.

Kyle Lewis, does it? That's the solution, Derek. You found it. We can't have both Kyle Lewis and Payton Smith, but maybe we could have Kyle Smith on the opening day. Pave and Smith, obviously, has a versatility there to back up both outfield and first base, where I'm sure that they're not going to do that with Kyle Lewis. Kyle might not even. We do think we'll see Kyle in the outfield.

I believe, I believe this weekend. We should see Kyle Lewis play in the outfield. Tori Lavello said that yesterday. But yeah, even if everything is as good as it could be from that standpoint, Kyle Lewis still doesn't play first base. And so it's like, all right, who's your backup first baseman? You're going to put Lordus Guerriel Jr. over there. We know Lavello loves his versatility too when it comes to guys that can back up

and play different roles. And I'm sure that's going to factor in there as well. But Kyle Lewis doing an exceptional job so far. Another guy doing a great job, Gabby Moreno. Yeah. 412, 474, 824. slash line with two home runs, two RBI, and a double. And hasn't had a ton of playing time, but so far has been taking advantage of the playing

time he's been given. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of catchers that they're kind of rotating through. So, yeah, it's only been about every three games or so that Gabby Moreno has gotten to start. But man, he looks like the real deal offensively. He really does. The bat to ball skills, you can see what people are talking about when they give Gabby Moreno like a 65 or a 70 hit tool.

The guy just really, he can hit anything. It feels like there are certain hitters and the debacks certainly have a few of them where they're good low ball hitters but they struggle with anything elevated or they're good high ball hiters but they struggle with stuff down or they can't hit stuff in on their hands, those kind of things. Gabby Moreno and obviously it's still a little early. But from what I've seen, it's like there is almost nothing that this guy can't hit. Yeah.

And that's why he doesn't really strike out. It's not necessarily that Moreno is hitting 120. mile and our laser beams all over the ballpark or anything. It's that the man can make contact with just about anything. Yeah, the single that he had that, uh, I forget which game this was earlier this week, but he just had a single where he just completely reached out. Yeah. There was a massive hole on the right side of the infield and Gabby Moreno just like poked

the bat out and it was, it was a beautiful piece of hitting. It made me very happy. It does. And I don't know how like, especially when you talk about this guy being as young as he is, as highly touted as he was as a. prospect and now he's a part of this team where his age matches up very well with some of these other guys currently on this team, including one and only Corbyn Carroll, who's been having himself an incredible spring, of course. The one thing that just amazes me is he already has two triples.

And I know he hasn't played a ton of games. He's played nine games, had 33 played appearances, and he already has two triples. And the triples, of course, as you can imagine, were 100% created with his legs. Like these were probably shots that most likely would have been a double for your average baseball player. But as you know, Corbyn Carroll is not your average baseball player. He is the fastest man on the planet. And not only that, but I believe if I'm recalling correctly, I don't think either of

these triples were even close. Like, I don't think the throw was anywhere close. So even if some other guys in the league, you know, maybe they could have found a way to get to third base. Corbyn Carroll's, they're standing up, you know. he's eating a few Cheetos by the time the ball comes in. So I don't know where that came from. No,

it's like it's it's it's he's describing what happens when Jesse and I race from the ballpark to the office. Basically I get here long enough before I have never full meal and drink a beer before he's here. But are Cheetos your your your choice? I love Cheetos. Probably not for a show. I'd get my keyboard all orange and gross, you know, and that I don't like. But buddy Kennedy another guy unfortunately defensively still probably isn't locked in,

uh, at a position but man at the dish he's been killing it yeah yeah and i mean emmanuel reverie has been good another guy good in the world baseball classic as well yeah i know i'm i can barely keep my attention focused right now because we have the porto rico dominican republic game on right behind this wall and i keep kind of trying to lean over and see what's happening but uh speaking of trying to lean over and see what's happening what is happening in this bullpen jessie because so far i like what i see out of a couple of new additions and i kind of impinging myself

to wonder if this is real or if I'm just being once again fooled into believing that the Diamondbacks might be a much better team than we saw last year. So, I mean, again, spring training numbers. Give it to me. I don't care. Take it with a grain of salt. Give it to me. But Kevin, we'll start with a guy who's already, already was here last year that we kind of

expected would make the team. Kevin Gingle, has looked really good this spring, six in a third innings. He's allowed six hits, three runs, but none of those runs were earned. one walk three strikeouts not like a ton of swing and miss or anything um i don't think kevin ginkles four-seem fastball is is quite the swing and miss pitch that you might think it is for being 96 97 it has a more horizontal movement than it does than it does vertical um but his slider is legit and his command has been excellent uh i think he's in a very good spot right now to to make the diamond backs opening day roster and then as far as the new guys go scott mcguff scott mcguff

Scott McGuff, man. Has not allowed a hit. He has not allowed a hit. Not a run, not a hit, not anything. That's what he's allowed. One walk. One walk, seven strikeouts. He's getting people to swing and miss.

He's looked outstanding. And Miguel Castro has Francisco and Doris just hitting inside the park home around the WC. Let's go Puerto Rico. I'm sorry. I need to let that out. Go ahead.

Miguel Castro, four innings. He is, I believe, allowed one hit. I think I miswrote that on our little rundown. Four innings, one hit, no runs, zero walks, five strikeouts. His velocity's been down actually a little bit from last year. I think it's been more 96 with the sinker than 98. But there's still some time for that to come back up. And I don't think there's too many concerns about that at this point. Most surprising name on this list, Jesse. Jury is familiar. Is that for you the most surprising? I'm wondering if that's the most surprising for you.

I mean, I mean, he has looked good. He has looked good. Four and two thirds, two hits, one run. Brent Strom said that Dris Familia has been experimenting with a new grip for his slider, I believe it is. So that was something that he said to sort of be looking for. I haven't gotten to see much of Familia personally. So hard for me to judge too much on that from the eye test, but the numbers certainly look good. The numbers look good.

Two hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts. So we know the debacks like their, they like their veterans in the bullpen. They do like, especially to start the season. We've talked about that. They are going to go with experience to start the season rather than necessarily the hot hand. And when we say hot hand, of course, we're talking about Justin Martinez, who was optioned by the debacks down to AAA Reno because that guy's a flame throw. He was throwing 102 miles an hour like it wasn't shit. He was throwing too hard.

He was, yeah. They decided to send him down. Yeah, no, I get it. That's what I do. But Martinez's stats aren't great, but they were good for the majority of the outings. He really just had one bad outing I felt like that really added those earned runs up and things like that. But I do not think that is the last of Justin Martinez, as we have seen in 2023. So look for that guy to bounce back, especially if the Diamondbacks decide to do the thing that we hope they do, which is, you know, evolved as this season progresses.

And that's one thing that this bullpen is definitely going to have to do. In order for this team to compete in the NL West, like Jake said earlier, it's not really that the team is bad. It's just how good those two other teams in this division really are. And then there's always those giants that you got to worry about. But what we don't worry about is you guys being here. We thank you so much for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. We thank our regulars. We think anybody new that showed up.

Thank you guys so much. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our little channel here, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss one week. It's not a little channel, Derek. It's now 10,000 subscribers. almost 11,000 subscribers strong. So, hey, you know what? I'm humble.

Of course, Jesse, huge ego. You guys know that. Make sure to subscribe to us on your favorite audio podcasting app. Leave us a review. We always appreciate the feedback. And of course, if you haven't done so already, sign up for our diehard membership over at go phnx.com. Get wonderful stuff.

You get a piece of merchandise from the p.nx locker.com for free. Every year you're a member. You also get 20% off all future purchases. Members only invites to events. Members only merchandise that you can only get as a diehard. You also get discounts with our partners. You get so much more. You get Jesse's newsletter full count as well as the newsletter from Gerald, Craig, and Howard.

You also get members-only access to our Discord lounge. So much more, so much great stuff to be had as a diehard member over at go-Ph-NX.com. Rumor has it. There might be some takeovers coming to Chase Field this season. There might very well be some takeovers. And the die-hards would get 20% off. any said takeover. That's right.

And maybe, maybe, maybe we make our way down to that pool one of these days. We'll see what happens. I don't know. Have you ever actually like, have you ever swam in the Chasefield pool there? I have never swam. I've been invited to go down to the pool area because friends of mine were there, but I did not come prepared to be in the pool. It was not like a pregame thing.

You have to bring, I don't know if you know this, but the swim trunks or something of the sort to jump in the pool. But you have to? Like, they won't let you. go in without that. Is that what you're saying? I imagine that there's some etiquette. Well, they let the Dodgers go in, right? Derek. Son of a bitch. I walked right into that one. Tell Jesse what furniture to buy because I'm sick of his shit, and I'm sick of him buying Chase lounges. Let's be honest. I am sick of him poorly furnishing his house.

So make sure to send him all the ideas that you have for him to get stuff. And make sure you understand how big his ego is going to grow when those cashiers also recognize him as being Jesse Friedman from the PHNXT back show. for you, of course, make sure to make yourself a lovely space for you to watch not only a world baseball classic, but baseball, which is starting in two weeks. Do you have your chairs? Do you have your area for snacks? Do you have your place to put your phone? You need all of that stuff and get it from more furniture.com. You can also have it delivered with their wonderful white glove delivery service, which will bring it in and set it up for you. Glucosamine.

I'm not. Jesse, can you hit up that second word for me here? Talking Jake fan here. We appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Ryan says it's frowned upon. Yes, I know it's frowned upon Ryan. Still, we thank you guys for giving Jesse all of your ideas for furniture. And more importantly, you guys say, oh, microphone, come back here.

You guys save big on furniture in the valley when you head over to morefurniture.com. We had an interesting comment the other day when we were talking about the team USA versus team Mexico game about the size of the crowd at Chase Field, about how electric the atmosphere was and basically about how the Arizona Diamondbacks should do a better job of catering to the Hispanic community here, which I kind of disagree with a bit, not the idea of that,

but I think that the Diamondbacks do do a great job. I just said do do do. They obviously do a great job. But I feel like they do a great job at catering to the Hispanic community. I know that it goes beyond the Los DeBacks jerseys. I know there's things in the ballpark like La Taranza that has all sorts of great food and kind of an area dedicated to the Hispanic culture in the valley.

I know that they do during the season. They have a lot of people, a lot of street fairs and things like that. But I kind of, I get what he's saying from the aspect that there is a great Hispanic community here in town that love baseball. And it really is something that when you look at the World Baseball Classic and all these people that, you know, came here to Chase Field, that it really, you know, there is a baseball. audience out there for the Diamondbacks to tap into a little bit more. Yeah. I mean, it's so clear, like, it was so clear being at that game on Sunday, like the amount of passion that they had for Team Mexico was so much fun.

It was insane. Well, in the game of baseball, too, right? It's not just the teams. It was, you know, like the video that you posted of everybody in that, that home plate suite doing the strikeout call and everything, man. It was just baseball. I think those were team USA supporters. Right.

That's what I'm saying. Like it was just from the entire building. It was just a different atmosphere that we don't ever get to see. Yeah. Unless it's playoff time or whatever, right? And obviously, these are big games that mean something. So we get the playoff implications of the World Baseball Classic. But, you know, tonight, Merrill Kelly is on the mound for Team USA.

And, man, we would just love to see, you know, this outboring of support for Team USA and for Merrill Kelly, especially from Diamondbacks fans here. But I wouldn't be. surprised if the atmosphere, even for a game like USA versus Columbia, which isn't as close to Mexico as we are, is still going to draw quite the crowd compared to a normal, you know, Wednesday night game in Chase Field. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, what I was saying before was kind of like they have so much passion for their, for their home country, right? Yeah. And if you could harness even a fraction of that passion for the Arizona Diamondbacks, right? That would be huge. And Kevin made a comment in the chat that I mean, I'm sure is at least partially true.

He's absolutely right. A lot of those folks that live here are Dodgers fans, not not Diamondbacks fans. I don't know how you practically go through the process of converting them. I don't know if that's really a thing. It's like what we were talking about with spring training the other day, right? There's lots of baseball fans here in the Valley. But because the Cactus League is here, people are allowed to stay supportive of their team, the team their grandparents rooted for and their parents.

It's rooted for. And now the Royals still play in Arizona, even though you don't live in Kansas City. You can still root for the Royals and go to 30 Royals games a year and be a royals fan. You can do that with the White Sox and the Dodgers here in the Valley. You can do that with all of these teams that are part of the Cactus League. And I feel like that is kind of part of the reason why the fan allegiance, as far as baseball fans go here in the Valley is so divided. That's why we go to these games and there's so many away fans.

These aren't people that traveled to this game. These are our fellow Phoenicians that are here, but they just root for other teams. And I feel the same way about that crowd that came for Team Mexico. I think a lot of those people just live here in Arizona, right? I don't think they necessarily made the trip. No, but it's a heritage thing. It's where your family came from or maybe where you were born or anything like that. But there's a lot of things that factor into this, you know, tournament and the love of country.

You know what I mean? Yeah. The love of country is something that just it brings out. a different level of fandom and people. Maybe Alex Thomas, the fact that he is on team Mexico and also on the Arizona Diamondbacks, maybe they all become Alec Thomas fans. It's a great point because sometimes, look at me, I'm a Kevin Durant fan. I always have been.

And now I'm living my best life, right? But I rooted for Kevin Durant wherever he went. Nah, not in Brooklyn as much, but, you know, elsewhere. But for sure. You really for Kevin Durant when he was with the Warriors? I kind of. Wow. Okay.

Because I wanted them to get a chance. I am willing to be fully honest. and say that I thought Kevin Durant was like the, I thought he was so soft when he went to Golden State. Man, I, I, I've loved him since Texas. Like, I thought he was, I thought he was going to fill out eventually, which he never did.

But besides that, I mean, I just, so now I'm to that point where I, I have my favorite player on my favorite team, but I mean, it doesn't mean I didn't root for him elsewhere. And the same thing, like, Alec Thomas is probably creating all sorts of fans. We know there's at least two people on our chat right now that won an Alec Thomas Mexico jersey.

So, like, there's, there's things like that, that this WBC does for growing the game and growing the community and making people fall in love with these guys and root for them no matter what team they play for, right? So like maybe there are some team Mexico fans that that come to love Alec Thomas and now they will root for him on the Diamondbacks. Maybe they don't care as much about how the team does, but maybe they're just a fan of his, right? But two guys we are fans of and we will never stop being fans of. Is David Peralta and Eduardo Escobar, and I know a lot of people hate me saying that because David Peralta is now

a Los Angeles Dodger, but it's hard not to love the freight train, no matter what team. People still like David Paralta, even though he signed with the Dodgers, I think. There's, there's some, to some of you, he's dead, and I get that. But for sure, there's one thing that's great, and that is the fact that there's Eduardo Escobar and David Paralta reunion on team Venezuela right now in the World Baseball Classic, and it's going exactly how you imagined it would. By the way, Escobar still afraid of cats. There was a lot.

There was also another wonderful shot of Escobar in the dugout. Just playing a bongoise of Venezuela during the... the game. Like, I love world baseball classic baseball so much, but I also love the fact that Eduardo Escobar is still afraid of cats. He should always be afraid of cats. Don't forget. It's because of him that the curse of Baxter exists. I just wanted to throw that. Oh, yes. I'll never forget that. He wore our mascots decapitated head on a video and that's just not to be allowed. But that's a, that's a rightful penalty to thus forever be afraid of cats. Maybe he's afraid of cats because he knows that a bobcats come in for him one of these days, Jesse. But

I just love, I like, I think David Peralta was genuinely kind of risking his life by going in and doing it. I do. It's like, Eduardo Escobar comes out with that bat. And, and Eduardo Escobar is a professional baseball player who swung, who swung a few bats in his day. Powerfully, powerfully. Also, never forget the fact that Eduardo Escobar once said he would die for Tori Lovolo, and I still don't know, like, how far that would go. But anyway, we love all this stuff. We love Merrill Kelly being on the mound tonight for Team USA, and we can't get enough for this world. Baseball. Must win game for Team USA. And it's just been fun to watch. It's been fun. Yeah. We're going to get down to it. And I'm feeling like a Japan, Mexico semi-final matchup is kind of on its way to a collision. But we will see how that plays out. In the meantime, of course, if you guys are here for spring training fun, make sure to check out all the fun stuff to do over there around Salt River Fields. First, make sure to say hi to Jesse because he's there all the time. He never leaves. And then also check out Octane Raceway and Mavericks. which is a great race car track and arcade bowling alley so much stuff you can book some fun this spring and octane raceway and mavericks cart racing virtual reality laser tag axe throwing which jesse still refuses to do with me uh bowling if you ever officially asked me to go i've asked you several you said

no you just like i said axe throwing and you said no i texted you i said you want to meet me with an axe somewhere and you were like why are you asking me this is weird and i said axe throwing jessie and you were like, that's not something normal humans do. But you can do that at Mavericks. And you can also get great food and drinks. They've got it all. Bring in your spring training ticket, speaking of which, and you will get a free $10 game card.

Check out OctaneRaceway.com and Mavericks.com to learn more. And they always have daily specials. So, of course, Wednesday is their winning Wednesday. Half-price arcade games all day long. It's kind of late now in the day for that. So if you go tomorrow, big bucket Thursday, $20 beer buckets. There you go. I just planned your Thursday for you.

And more importantly, if you want to hit up these World Baseball Classic Games, is tonight's the last one here at Chase Field? How's that break down? I believe so. Well, if you're watching us right now and you're making a last minute decision, you know the place to go. That's game time.

Jump on there right now. See if you can get a ticket. Go down to Chase Field. Watch yourself the final matchup here at Chase Field. I bet you can still get a ticket for that. I bet you can. And you can save up to 60% on tickets when you buy them last minute. procrastinators can rejoice because this is a deal made for us. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets through the link in the description.

And of course, make sure to save money big over at game time. That's all we got. Big thanks to our friend, Talk and Jake, for joining us and explaining his actions a little bit. I do feel less angry at him, but I still don't 100%. We're going to have Talking Jake back on at some point during the season. Oh, yeah. He might be eating his words a little bit, Derek. We'll see.

I hope so. Also, you were making that comment about me being at Salt River Fields every day. I wasn't at Salt River Fields today because the Diamondback spring training game this afternoon was rained out. He was there. Don't believe him. He went there. They were like, we're not open today. And Jesse, like, did that thing where he puts his hand on the, like, glass, sadly.

And tear came out of his eye. But he's there every day that they allow him to be there. So make sure to check him out. Check all of us out. We thank you guys again so much for following us. watching the show, follow us on Twitter. Shout out to any new viewers that came here because of your love for Jake.

We love and appreciate you and hope you stick around. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. This guy's at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you again for your time.

And on behalf of Damon, Jesse and myself, we always appreciate you guys stopping by. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you take the over on a 73 and a half win total for the Arizona Diamondbacks.